Iron County register., 1887-07-07
STUDYING A BABY.
Interesting Experiments Made by Noted
European Scientist.

Interesting Experiments Made by Note d
European Scientist.
A European man of science, Prof.
Preyer, has published a work in which
he has recorded the results of his work
in a new branch of research. He has
devoted himself to studying the growth
of intelligence and observation in his
own child, beginning with the day of
its birth, and observing its develop
ment rather with the eyes of a scientist
than with those of a parent. He has
noted the precise moment in which it
first seemed to see things, and the cir
cumstances under which it appeared
to begin its thinking-the intelligent
putting of one thing with another.
II took my baby" said the profess
sor in his book, ''to the window, five
minutes after he was born, and just as
the sun was rising. His perception of
the light did not seem at all keen. He
opened and closed his eyes alternately,
the lids parting about an eighth of an
inch. Somewhat later, the light hav-
ing become much brighter, the baby
opened his eyes quite wide, and i n
opening them wrinkeled his forehead. y
During the earliest days of its life,
an infant. Prof. Preyer ascertained,
rarely keeps its eyes open. Even when
awake, it is quite as likely to keep its
eyes closed as open; and when it opens
them, it is never by one and the same
movement, at first. One lids lifts, and
then the other, and sometimes the two
are held open at an unequal width.
This state of things usually lasts until
the eleventh day. Prof Preyer OBJ
served his baby's first wink. For fif-
teen days he shook his hand each day
before the child's open eyes, as he lay
on his pillow, without causing him,
seemingly, any fear or astonishment.
On the sixteenth day after his birth.
however, the baby winked quickly
when the same movement was made,
opening the eyes again together, and
quickly.
At the end of the seventh month,
the professor found the boy quite
capable of feeling and expressing as
tonishment at an act (which he did not
understand. But as early as the
twenty-third day of his life the baby
noticed" as the nurses put it; that is
to say, discovered that there was such
a thing rs movement in the world
about him. This discovery Prof.
Prcyer reached by experimenting with
him from day to day with moving can
dies. The child, at last, on the day
mentioned, followed the movement
of the candles. up or down
or right or left. by moving
his head The child wore. at
the same time, an expression of intel
iigence as if he had made discovery.
1t was only on the hundredth day that
the baby followed exactly. and with an
instant movement as precise as 4 ma
chimes, the swinging Of a large pen
dulum, and only in the twenty-ninth
month of his life that he followed,
with quickness and certainty, the flight
of swallow.
Prof. Preyer's experiments with the
child's perception of color were ex-
tremely interesting, but too long to be
repeated here; but we may say that
the result of them was to convince him
that the eye is especially affected by
the color red, and that at first we have
but two color mpressions-first, of
that which is red, and second. of that
which is not red.
Mr.. Preyer declares that it is great
mistake to suppose that a baby is able
to smile soon after It's birth. 1t was
his twenty-sixth day that his own baby
first smiled; and the double joy of the
father, which was both parental and
scientific. was unquestionably very
great. 1t is easy to believe that for
the moment the man of science was
lost in the father. These experiments
may seem trifling. but they are not so
to those who seek accurate knowledge;
and Mr. Preyer certainly could not
have chosen more delightful subject
for scientific research. -Iouths Com
paniOn.